Slashdot videos: Now with more Slashdot!

View

Discuss

Share

We've improved Slashdot's video section; now you can view our video interviews, product close-ups and site visits with all the usual Slashdot options to comment, share, etc. No more walled garden! It's a work in progress -- we hope you'll check it out (Learn more about the recent updates).

Did you RTFA? This actually makes some sense when taken in context and explained... as in the article. The problem is that providing the data collected about incoming meteors necessarily describes the functionality and implied limitations of the detection system. Knowing the capabilities and limitations provides a strategic advantage to those who might try to avoid detection. Since the system is so complex and advanced, it is reasonable to believe that the capabilities will not be fully known by other militaries unless the information is leaked - or released in the form of data output.

They did provide that data for years... You could look at the old data to understand the system. Still wouldn't do you any good though. There is a sat system that can detect big sources of energy. Nothing secret about it.
This only proves that it's about bloody time that China or the EU puts some sats of her own in the skies. Before we know it GPS coordinates will be a national secret to the US also.

The data was being released in a somewhat informal fashion. There may not have been any classified stuff leaked in the past, but it could happen in the future if, for example, the system is upgraded and the quality of the released data suddenly changes. The general wants the data to be properly declassified to make sure that doesn't happen, but declassification is expensive and he doesn't have a budget for it. It's possible that the deal he has struck involves some other agency reimbursing his command for the cost of declassifying and publishing the data.

Actually the U.S. military has already used its control of the GPS satellites to its strategic advantage - during the Persian Gulf War the U.S. made the GPS satellites give data that was slightly off and then reset the satellites so the Iraqis had to waste time recalibrating their weapons systems twice before the war started.

Because they control it they can be more sure they get a true read and nobody else is doing some kind of local jamming/misrepresentation. That's the main function of the P(Y) channel. It is encrypted and the keys aren't public. So, if your military enabled GPS can decrypt it correctly, you can be fairly confident the signal is indeed coming from a sat, and not someone generating a false signal. With the C/A signal, no such luck.

That is (or at least seems to be) the reason for keeping P(Y) information classi

During the cold war, something went flash and a sat noted it. In theory it was South Africa and Israel doing something with a nuke.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_Incident [wikipedia.org]
With scientists come the press. They might ask how could South Africa get the bomb? Who helped them? Where where they getting support from and who let them test?
The political leaders who lied back then, groomed the 30 somethings around them. They are now in power and have learned from past mistakes.
Now if the sat never saw the f

So, if you read TFA, the military specifically didn't want sensor data compromised, and some asshat scientist ruined the show by publishing a lightcurve off one of the meteors, which was a no-no per the agreement. I can see why the military stomped on that hard. And yes, sensor capability is a big deal; It's not like you can launch another satellite without the world knowing about it, and upgrading the sensors already got nuked by congress for being over budget.

Political leanings are irrelevant here. From the light curve, you can extrapolate sensor capability in a various applications such as boost-course, mid-course, even late-course ballistic missile/warhead intercept capabilities, which should, given known albedo characteristics for those phases, liklihood of detection. That's just one engineer's perspective.

They had an informal agreement that benefited all, some one goes and pisses in the pool. Responsible General kicks him out of the pool, and quickly creates new rules that allow everyone to benefit again and share while keeping jack-asses out.

half of the G8 countries opened up their official ufo files. there are ufo filmings and sightings in every goddamn corner of the world so that they have almost become mundane, a touristic event. yet, the bozos in america STILL try to shuffle shit, putting their citizens in the place of fools. really, THAT much effort is not needed. people dont need the fucking government to tell them what exists, and what does not.